The arrow hit the solid target with impressive accuracy, yet it wasn't good enough for the firer.
"I'll never be good enough." A young boy spoke. He held a small bow in his left hand.
"That's was a fine shot, lad. Don't be so hard on yourself."
The boy didn't listen. Instead, he continued to fire more arrows one after the other, becoming more and more angry at himself if he didn't achieve a bull's-eye.
"You're trying too hard for perfection. You won't achieve it through anger."
The man left him to it. Although the boy didn't want to heed his advice, he at least tried to calm down. He drew another arrow and aimed slowly at the target. He pulled back the string and witnessed his first bull's-eye.
"Yes!" he shouted in victory.
He felt weird inside, as if the target had become clearer to him all of a sudden. He drew a second arrow and once again he achieved a perfect bull's-eye, his new arrow tearing through the previous one. Again and again he released each arrow as quick as he could. Not a single one failed him.
Soon the boy was trying different weapons. He switched from a bow to a crossbow, then to a throwing knife. To his instructor's astonishment, the boy did not miss. It wasn't until he was older that he was able to try gunpowder weapons. He was disheartened by the new mediums inaccuracy, yet he continued on. He felt alive when he was shooting. Every essence of his being was poured into the perfection of every shot, yet other aspects of his life were not so good.
Sitting beside him, the man explained to him.
"They bully you because you are different. They are jealous."
"I'm not different. I'm the same as all of them. They just choose to see another side of me. One I'm not."
"Don't turn away from it, boy. Every part of you makes up who you are. Don't hide it because others don't like it.
"It's alright for you, your normal!" The boy stormed off.
"If only you knew…" The man spoke to himself.
The candle flickered as the boy watched from the stairway. He could hear his mother.
"Please, this isn't you. Listen, it's me!" She was distressed.
The man walked towards her, his clothes torn and his body covered in scars.
The woman screamed as the man bit into her neck.
The boy screamed. His mother fell lifelessly to the floor as the man turned to him. The boy retrieved a knife from the kitchen and hurled it at the man's chest. The man's heart stopped beating as the boy stood over the two bodies. He wasn't the same anymore. Something had snapped. He felt nothing for what he had just done.
In the wake of what had happened, secrets about the boy came to light. They shunned him, cast him out and hunted him. On the outside, Monster's pushed him away, seeing him as something different. On both sides he was left empty. He was a Monster to everyone around him. From this hate, he became something unique. A cold killer was born, willing to destroy both Human and Monster. He was a ghost, his identity nothing but a changing story. Name's changed like the seasons, yet the tales told were still of one man. He was an unstoppable tide against anyone who called themselves a Monster, or a Monster sympathiser. In his heart, Humans were a dying race, one that would in time be extinguished. As for Monsters. They would be the first to feel his wrath.
"Can you feel it Dracula?" A voice echoed in the darkness.
"Can you feel her heartbeat?"
Images of Martha appeared to him, yet no matter how hard he tried he could not reach out to her.
"Can you feel the same pain I carry?"
"Since the day my mother was slaughtered, love found itself into my heart through only one person. It seems she was destined to suffer the same fate, only this time, by the hands of a Human. My zing was stolen from me."
"Mavis!" Dracula shouted in the dark.
"She cannot hear you. Her dreams are filled with nothing but terror. She is alone, Dracula. On the streets. Shunned. Hunted. You are both in my grasp."
Dracula tried to gather his thoughts, yet everything felt so real.
"So sweet and innocent. Scared, yet willing to retrieve this."
The locket appeared before his eyes.
"The love of a Vampire. Nothing but poison!"
The locket shattered into fragments, the image of Martha became a collage of broken shards.
"This isn't real!" Dracula tried to wake up.
"This is your mind, your past unlocked. It's is more real than the present! More real than the future you will never see."
He saw the hunter stand over Mavis. Townspeople surrounded them. She looked down at the locket as the pistol pointed down at her. With a click, the gunpowder ignited. The girl's life ended, her locket crashing to the stony floor beside her.
"This was you past. Yet I chose a different path."
He saw the vision repeated, only this time, the hunter waited. A young girl shouted out his daughter's name.
"You see? There are no Humans or Monsters. Only the side of ourselves we choose not to kill. When did you choose to become the Human, Dracula? When did they become the Monsters?"
He saw the mob of people burning his house down as he fled with baby Mavis in his arms.
"She will never feel the warm embrace of her bloodsucking mother. She'll only know the man who barely clings onto a reason to exist. What happens when that reasons dies?"
He heard the sound of the gunshot again.
"Will it really be me that stops your heart? Or someone else?"
Everything else was nothing but unending darkness. Two Dracula's laying together on their way to the stars… yet, two hearts were beating for them…
…
Dracula and the gang sat together in the Steins' room. He had told them of the visions he had been shown by the dark magic that had been cast on the poison. Mavis sat with them, hugging a stuffed dragon and feeling weak after the night's ordeal. Eunice rubbed her head softly.
"That it so heartless. How could anyone do such a thing?" Murray asked.
"Someone's who's had their own heart broken. Someone who doesn't see a friend in anyone." Dracula guessed.
"Why did he show you all that. Why not just kill you?" More questions came from the group.
"I think… he wanted someone to understand what he was inside. He feels no remorse for Monster's nor Humans… not even for himself. It wasn't always like that."
The group tried to make sense of everything that had happened that night.
"He kept showing me…" He gestured over to Mavis without letting her know and then made a slicing motion past his neck.
Wanda gasped.
"I'm sorry Drac. You were right. We have to stop him before he finds us." Wayne raised up out of his chair.
"For all the images he tried to scare me with, I think he may have given away where he's been hiding." Dracula told the group.
"Really? Then what are we waiting for? Let's get out there!" Frank prepared himself for action.
"Hold on Frank." Dracula put up his hands to stop him. "I've had the staff lead our guests to the pool. After everything that has happened tonight, I think we could all do with some enjoyment. As for Eunice… we'll find him tomorrow night and show him what true pain feels like!"
The gang joined the guests who were now enjoying the newly repaired swimming pool. The kids ran around playfully whilst their parents caught up with old friends. Dracula held Mavis' hand. She was now wearing her little swimsuit and rubber rings round her arms shaped like bats. She was still learning to swim but was eager to get into the pool. Dracula wanted her to forget about the horrible events they had just experienced. He knew a single swim in the pool wouldn't cut it but at least it was a start.
"Let us give Mavis her swimming lesson Drac, you haven't had a chance to properly meet your guests yet." Frank offered.
"That's kind of you Frank." He answered before sighing.
He was hesitant to let her out of his sight but he knew that she was safe With Frank and Eunice, especially after they had risked their own lives to save her and himself. At last he was able to meet his first wave of guests. Each monster came in different shapes and sizes. Some he had met before on his travels, others he had never seen before. He came to the gelatinous Monster he had previously become acquainted with.
"Ah, Blobby! How are you my dear… jelly? I trust you are enjoying your stay."
The Monster seemed to blob about in agreement.
"Hmm, I know! Why don' you write down what you want to say. I apologise my friend but I can't seem to understand you. Entirely my fault of course, my ears aren't what they used to be!" He didn't want to insult his guest.
He handed him a piece of parchment and a pencil. Blobby wrote something down and then passed it back. Dracula stared at it whilst pulling a fake smile. There was nothing but incoherent scribbles. He could make out one word amongst the mess, at least he thought it was a word.
"…Steve?"
The Blob jiggled a bit.
"Right…"
All of a sudden, the paper and pencil was ripped from his hand. He looked down to see a female Gremlin by his feet.
"I didn't do that."
Each guest got weirder and weirder, but such was the Monster community. He spotted Mavis laughing as Frank and Eunice showed her how to paddle. He couldn't believe that she could be so happy after what had happened to them that night. She was so strong. She was just like her Mother. Dracula walked away from the party of Monsters all enjoying themselves. Staring over the balcony and past the vast moat, he thought of the promise he had made his wife.
"I promised you Martha that I would keep you safe. I swore never to take revenge on Humans for what they did to us. But this one… I must destroy him."